Hitting a deer (zaibatsu), 05/30/2019
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It's not nice to hit, and  it's even less nice to hit things
with your  car. In  spite of  my upbringing  and non-violent
nature,  I managed  to  hit  a deer  with  my  car over  the
weekend.

It was on  Country Road F, between Fulton  and Columbia, MO,
on a  bright Sunday  afternoon. I've  been around  deer long
enough, in Oregon and in Eastern Arizona, but I've never hit
one before. Generally I've been able  to see them off to the
side, or in front of me, with enough time to slow down a bit
and avoid encounters.  This time, the deer  jumped right out
of the tall grass and trees (which grow right up to the road
in  some  spots, it  feels  like)  and into  my  driver-side
headlight, with zero  time to react. I saw it,  but could do
nothing. I  was going 50-60mph  (speed limit on the  road is
55mph), fast  enough to hit  the head  of the deer  and slam
it's body into  my fender. I don't know how  they do it, but
it managed to stumble off into the woods while I pulled into
the  nearest driveway.  No  human was  hurt;  the deer,  I'm
certain, has passed.

As for the damage, it  is significant. Headlight assembly is
gone, grille is destroyed, hood is bent, fender is crumbled.
On our  recent trip to AZ,  our radiator cracked, and  I got
ripped off by a mechanic shop to get it replaced in Oklahoma
City. Almost 1k  USD. The deer punched right  through the AC
condenser, and  cracked the  brand new  radiator. If  it had
known I just put a new radiator in, it might not have jumped
out in front of me.

I gotta  give the old  Cadillac credit though,  it basically
smashed right through the deer  without slowing down, and it
doesn't look half bad after the fact, all things considered.
It still  runs and  drives (though,  without a  radiator, it
won't make  it far). I  haven't decided whether or  not I'll
repair the  vehicle, but we're  going to get  something else
either way. I'll  probably phlog about that more  over on my
colorfield.space hole[1].

Life has been  hectic the last few days, partly  due to this
misadventure. In  all sincerity,  I'm just  glad no  one was
hurt. Cars,  and other  objects, matter  very little  to me.
People matter a great deal.

[1] gopher://colorfield.space:70/1/~tfurrows